HYPE INDEX: The must-see Texas college football games this weekend

This is the Texas College Football Hype Index, where Dave Campbell’s Texas Football managing editor Greg Tepper ranks the FBS college football games in Texas from least-watchable to most-watchable.8: Nicholls State at Texas A&M, 6 p.m. Saturday If you enjoy snuff films, this is for you. A vengeful Aggies squad returns to College Station and will likely take out all of its frustrations on their Louisianan visitors. There’s some intrigue to see what the A&M quarterback situation looks like without Nick Starkel, but aside from that, this feels like a drubbing waiting to happen. Watchability Rating: 2 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: Texas A&M 63, Nicholls State 77: Texas State at Colorado, 1 p.m. Saturday After an uneven performance in the opener against Houston Baptist, Texas State must now go on the road against what looks like a resurgent Colorado squad. Unless something clicks in the running game, it’ll be up to quarterback Damian Williams to keep the Bobcats in this, and even then, it could get ugly. Watchability Rating: 3 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: Colorado 45, Texas State 96: San Jose State at Texas, 2:30 p.m. Saturday The Longhorns have had a week to lick their wounds after dropping the opener to Maryland, but we may not know how much has been fixed until next week against USC. Instead, this should be an opportunity for Texas to get right and get some guys like backup quarterback Sam Ehlinger some reps. If this game is close, the problems in Austin are deeper than anyone thought. Watchability Rating: 4 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: Texas 48, San Jose State 175: Rice at UTEP, 7 p.m. Saturday On the positive side of the ledger: this is a conference game between intra-state rivals, and feels like a tone-setting game for the season. On the negative side of the ledger: it’s two teams that struggled big-time in their first games. The biggest question here is whether Rice can find any sort of offensive consistency. Watchability Rating: 4 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: UTEP 33, Rice 264: UTSA at Baylor, 7 p.m. Saturday Doesn’t this scream “Danger Zone” for Baylor? UTSA is a bowl team from a year ago that is supposed to be even better this season, while the Bears are coming off a home loss to an FCS team. Two interesting quarterbacks here in Dalton Sturm and Anu Solomon, but I’m a lot more interested in how the defenses play. Compelling stuff here. Watchability Rating: 6 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: Baylor 41, UTSA 313: North Texas at SMU, 6 p.m. Saturday Two programs with their arrows decidedly pointing up, both the Mean Green and Ponies looked excellent in their season-opening throttlings of FCS foes. The biggest question here is, what did Seth Littrell and Chad Morris — both of whom are on the list of the nation’s hottest coaches — hold back? Expect more than a couple of fireworks, especially from UNT running back Jeffery Wilson and SMU receiver Courtland Sutton. This one should be a lot of fun. Watchability Rating: 7 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: SMU 44, North Texas 352: Houston at Arizona, 9:30 p.m. Saturday We finally get the debut of “Major Applewhite, Head Coach” in an exciting Saturday nightcap. There are a lot of moving parts for the Coogs, including new quarterback Kyle Allen and a re-made secondary, but the things that make them a consistent AAC power — a fierce front seven and weapons galore — remain. Arizona is a vulnerable Pac-12 team that gave up gobs of yards to Northern Arizona last week, and this would be quite a feather in Applewhite’s newly minted hat. Watchability Rating: 8 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: Houston 38, Arizona 301: No. 23 TCU at Arkansas, 2:30 p.m. Saturday TCU fans couldn’t have asked for more in their opening win over Jackson State, but now comes a significant step-up in competition level. The Frogs would like to avenge last year’s unforgettable loss to the Hogs, and if they play like they did last week, they’ll do just that. Still, the Frogs are going to be undersized compared to Arkansas’ porky fronts, meaning they’ll need to win with speed. Can Kenny Hill take care of the football? Can the Frogs’ front slow down Arkansas’ admittedly thinning running back corps? Questions abound, and the answers should be telling for the remainder of the 2017 season. Watchablity Rating: 9 out of 10 Tepper’s Prediction: TCU 27, Arkansas 24